Rahul Gandhi has no knowledge of CAA : Nadda

BJP Working President J P Nadda Saturday said senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has no knowledge about the Citizenship Amendment Act and challenged him to speak "ten lines" on it.

Nadda threw the challenge at Rahul Gandhi at a mammoth rally here of booth-level presidents of BJP in Assam.

"I challenge Rahul Gandhi to speak ten lines about the CAA and say in two lines what he opposes in the Act," said the BJP leader.

"He (Rahul) does not know anything. He tells people they will be deprived of their passports and Aadhaar cards. But the CAA is for giving and not taking away citizenship," Nadda said.

"There is fault in your (Gandhi's) thinking as you are inspired only by politics. You don't see the nation, but see only votebank politics which you put above the nation. For BJP, the country is above vote as we are inspired by love for the nation," he asserted.

Nadda accused Congress leadership of shedding crocodile tears in the name of opposing CAA. "Your (Sonia Gandhi) son (Rahul) does not make statements in Parliament but instead gives slogans. You send him there to speak, but he does not. I take pity on the party and its leadership's mental ability".

Keeping up his attack on the Congress, the BJP working president said "The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 and you slept till 2017 despite ruling the country for 70 year. You even had a chief minister here. But BJP came and woke you. You are in pain because the chair was taken away from you", Nadda said.

He also challenged the Congress leaders to go to the camps where non-Muslims who fled Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh due to religious persecution in those countries are staying to see for themselves their condition.

The BJP working president referred to Mahatma Gandhi saying shelter should be given to such persecuted people in India, followed by prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanting to give relief funds to them and former prime minister Manmohan Singh saying arrangements be made for them in India.

"Where will these people who fled to India go? Narendra Modi and Amit Shah brought the amendment in the Act to allow them to live with dignity and honour", Nadda said.

The BJP leader sought to allay the fears of the people of Assam that CAA will threaten their language, identity and culture. He said when the amended act is implemented, clause 6 of Assam Accord granting them constitutional safeguard will be implemented in letter and spirit as it will be "the responsibility of BJP to do so".

BJP leader Ram Madhav, who too spoke at the programme, said that those who oppose the CAA do not understand it fully, while others don't want to.

He accused the Congress of instigating people with lies and false propaganda about the amended act and said that BJP workers have the responsibility to remove those fears.

He assured the people that CAA will never harm their interests but safeguard them.

Claiming that the Congress has been spreading false alarm that crores of Bangladeshis will come to Assam due to CAA, he assured that no new immigrants will enter the state and citizenship will be granted to those who are already here after fleeing their countries due to religious persecution.